Tackling poverty and inequality

Lynsey Hanley argues eloquently for the need for politicians who know what it is like to be very poor (We need a Mr Ten Per Cent, September 25). People who experience poverty are the ones who know the problems caused by poverty best and how it should be sorted out. When given the rare chance, poor people participate in decision-making with great energy, commitment and thoughtfulness. The most successful anti-poverty programmes, from the national health service to the minimum wage, came about from listening to people who knew about the impact of bad health and low wages on their lives and learning from their experiences. In contrast, many of the greatest disasters, from tower blocks to tax-credit overpayments, came from "experts" who thought they knew best about what was good for other people. Eileen Devaney National coordinator, UK Coalition Against Poverty

The Equal Opportunities Commission wants a two- or three-year moratorium for all employers who agree to check their pay systems for discrimination against women (Leaders, September 24). This "breathing space" would make employers immune to challenges in employment tribunals by employees claiming unequal treatment at work. What next? Will burglars be granted immunity from prosecution if they check out the methods of their crimes? Employers have had 30 years to stop their illegal practices. Now the EOC wants to give them another two or three years to continue breaking the law.

This nonsense has come about because the employment tribunal system is at breaking point because of the unprecedented rise in claims of discrimination. Good on these women for taking matters into their own hands. The answer is simple - change the law so that if one woman in a department or office wins her claim then all her female colleagues in similar circumstances will also be entitled to a similar amount of compensation and back pay. In that way, a woman making a claim will be at less risk of dismissal. It is much more disruptive to sack possibly scores of workers. Sheila Toney Callington, Cornwall

Interesting to see Ian Jack returning to JK Galbraith for an explanation of our economic woes (Saturday, September 22). But in calling for an analysis of modern financial practice, he only needs to go to Marx, who writes in book three of Capital: "The ultimate cause of all real crises is always the poverty and restricted consumption of the masses, in contrast with the tendency of capitalist production to develop ... in such a way that only the absolute power of consumption of society would be their limit." I have yet to come across a better description of the dynamic of sub-prime mortgages and private equity. Tim Evans Swansea